Fair warning to most of you out there, I’ve been in a bit of a funk this week. My right knee which I injured a few months ago has been brutally painful lately which is preventing me from going to Judo at least for this week while I see if it heals. On top of that I have to travel up to North Bumblefuck NY the first two days of next week which sucks for a multitude of reasons including, but not limited to, I will miss my kids and I have to drive six hours. These are the types of things that make me stabby. These are also the kind of things that make me skip the wine and move directly to rum. Oh rum……sorry I totally just got distracted there.

There are some things to be happy about right now though. I’ve discovered Sailor Jerry Rum makes Captain Morgan look like a little bitch in a costume. Also, I managed to get ahold of a Wii U over the last week or so without any real effort involved. I hooked it up the other day and played a bit of Mario which not only made me happy but got Nathan totally excited about this new system. Recently he’s become enamored with watching me play video games. He wakes up from his nap on the weekends when I’m home with him and immediately crawls into my lap and asks, very quietly, if we can play some “vidjeo games.” He spent hours watching me race in Forza Horizon and his new obsession is watching me run around in any Assassin’s Creed game (I avoid murdering dudes while he’s sitting there watching, don’t worry).

I see a lot of me in Nathan. He likes interactivity and while he will watch a movie he’s more engaged and happy when he’s helping to control the scene on the screen. To that end the Wii U seems kind of perfect. He understands the idea of the touch screen because he has grown up playing with our phones and tablets. Also, the music and colors and silliness of Mario has much more appeal to him than the reality of Rome in the 1500’s. We’ve tackled very little Mario together but I have a feeling that post nap game sessions this weekend are going to be a little bit magical.

This is the part of having kids that I secretly look forward to more than anything else. Watching babies grow and learn things is fascinating. For me though those developments are fleeting, eventually all babies learn to walk and talk and they all become children. What’s far more interesting to me is being able to pass along something I love so much to my children. Sharing something that has held a place in my life since I was five years old brings me joy in a way that is hard to describe with words. Watching Nathan experience games for the first time reminds me to step back and not be as critical of the medium. Nathan is essentially reminding me that games can be magical and that helps me cut through the cynicism I have developed through years of playing and talking about video games.

Even if Nathan (or Kaitlyn) has no continued interest in games beyond their younger years I can still enjoy the satisfaction of showing them cool things while I have their interest. Kaitlyn is currently less enthralled with video games but she is highly interested in attempting to eat game cases. Mmmmm plastic.

As for my attempt at finish games this year I’ve managed to defeat six games so far. Dishonored, Borderlands 2, Forza Horizon, Halo 4, Spec Ops: The Line, and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood have been tied up so far. I’m working on Sleeping Dogs right now as well as fooling around with the Wii U when I get a chance. I’ve also started playing Persona 4 The Golden on my PS Vita. People, that game is going to be a PROBLEM. Maybe I should reword that…that game is going to be a PROBLEM AGAIN. I will report back on how much of my life has been ruined by playing P4 again as well as my progress in other game related things next week. Until then I’ll be hanging out with my kid, snuggling and playing us some Mario.